LAURINBURG – Two Scotland County residents have been arrested under a relatively new state law against revenge porn.
But law enforcement officials say the incidents are becoming more prevalent and they offer tips to avoid being a victim.
Revenge porn is defined as posting sexualized images of a person on the internet, especially a former lover, without getting consent from the person in the pictures or video.
Authorities say a local incident of the crime occurred between July 23 and 25. Capt. Ruben Castellon, chief detective with the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office said the victim reported it on Aug. 3.
Phillip Jerome Campbell, 42, of Sugar Road was arrested for felony disclosure of private images and misdemeanor harassing phone calls and given a $7,500 secured bond.
Priscilla Ann Patterson, 39, of Sugar Road, was also arrested felony disclosure of private images and misdemeanor harassing phone calls and given a $1,000 secured bond.
Officials said the couple were blackmailing a woman. When she didn’t give in to their demands, they posted inappropriate pictures of the woman on Facebook.
This is the first time the sheriff’s office has arrested anyone under the disclosure of private images law.
“We’ve had misdemeanors for cyberstalking” Castellon said. “But in reviewing cases, this was the first one of this level I’ve seen.”
Disclosure of private images is a class C – D felony and carries various sentences depending on a variety of factors, according to Castellon. If convicted an offender may receive anywhere from probation to six years in prison.
Laurinburg Police Department has not had any claims of revenge porn that have led to arrests, according to Police Chief Darwin “Duke” Williams.
Currently 38 states and Washington DC have revenge porn laws on the books. South Carolina is among those who do not.
North Carolina passed its version of a revenge porn law in 2015 and updated it this year.
North Carolina General Statue 14-190.5A, defines revenge porn, or disclosure of private images that a person, “ knowingly discloses an image of another person with the intent to coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss to the depicted person, or cause others to coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss to the depicted person.”
Revenge porn
Revenge porn is not a new idea. In the early 1980s “Hustler” magazine began a feature where anyone could submit nude photos along with information about the woman pictured often including her name.
The magazine was sued numerous times in throughout the 80s by women who said they had not submitted their pictures.
Jump forward to 2010, when Hunter Moore created the website Is Anyone Up?
The site posted nude photos and videos of people in intimate situations and linked them to the victims social media pages. Many of the people featured on the page claimed their accounts had been hacked to gain access to the images. A number of victims claimed the photos Moore shared were ones they had given or sent to boyfriends and girlfriends who shared them as revenge after a breakup, giving rise to the term revenge porn.
Moore was eventually investigated by the FBI and his page was shut down in 2012. In 2015 Moore was sentenced to 2 and a half years in federal prison.
Protect yourself
The best way to protect oneself from becoming a victim of revenge porn is not to have compromising images on digital devices.
“Protect yourself; my advice is not to post anything intimate and private regardless of who you’re sending it to − no matter how much you trust them,” Williams said. “You may send it to the wrong person by mistake or the person you sent it to may use it against you.”
Williams has a warning to potential perpetrators as well.
“Folks who use social media as a form of revenge need to know whether it’s sending a picture, whether it be sending a threat, you can face consequences.”
The website XOJane recommends the following to protect yourself from revenge porn and cope with the aftermath.
1. Educate the men in your life. Talk to your brothers, male friends, and sons about revenge porn and the consequences it has for women.
2. If there’s a password-protect feature on your computer, applications, photos, etc: use it. And make sure your password isn’t easily guessed. There are dozens of online articles listing the most common passwords. Make sure yours isn’t on it.
3. Delete everything. Purge old emails with attachments to the photos, then be sure to empty the recycle bin.
4. Consistently update your software. While frequently upgrading your firewalls, operating systems, and anti-virus software won’t always outsmart the most technologically savvy of hackers, it will pack a punch against less experienced ones.
5. Watch for warning signs on your webcam. We all know Skype sessions often go on the fritz, but if your camera is consistently blinking or lighting up for brief or extended periods when not in use, something isn’t right.
6. If you’re not using your computer, shut it off completely. Nowadays it’s possible for webcam hackers to remotely activate your camera. If your computer isn’t on, you’re less at risk.
7. Purchase a webcam cover sticker. Post-it Notes are a cheaper option, but they often don’t cover everything fully and can damage the lens of your webcam.
8. Stay off sketchy sites. Be aware that illegal downloading and streaming sites often prompt you to download applications that can sometimes remotely access your computer.
9. Purchase webcam protection software.
10. If you’ve been hacked, don’t blame yourself. Please remember you did nothing to deserve this, you are not at fault, and you are survivor, even if right now you feel like a victim.
Any victim of revenge porn should report it to authorities right away. Victims can also visit www.endrevengeporn.org or withoutmyconsent.org to share their stories and find resources for help.
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